One month passed since the emperor came to visit me.

The concubines mock me saying that I lost favor. What am I supposed to do? I know that they probably complained about me.

Or maybe the emperor is really tired of me. Maybe I was a new thing and he lost interest? But we still haven't done it until the end.

I spend my days learning the concubine's protocol, martial arts, and studying.

I need to pretend that my martial arts are weaker than they really are and that I barely know the art of war. It's exhausting.

Now I have Hai to keep me company. The emperor sent me the little boy on the first day he didn't come to visit me. Was this the way of him to apologize to me?

This is good, I have to make sure Hai is totally loyal to me. I start thinking about recruiting more orphans but first I need Hai to be able to come and go from the palace and second, I need money.

It's possible that the emperor sends someone to follow Hai so it's best to tell directly to the emperor what I want.

The problem is that I don't know when will the emperor come.

I feel bored from being inside for so long so I go for a walk in the imperial garden.

The imperial garden is huge and full of flowers. Suddenly I hear a child's voice.

-Ai'er where are you?

I see a little boy running around while shouting.

I look at him and his face looks familiar to me. That's the emperor's eldest son, prince Gui. If I don't remember wrong, he and princess Ai are both sons of the noble consort.

I stop, not sure of what to do. Should I help the little prince and try to get close to the noble consort?

Then the little prince sees me and runs to me and asks for my help to find his little sister. Seems like they ran away from their tutors and maids and went to play in the garden.

I end up helping the little prince and sometime after we find the little princess crying in a corner.

The little prince runs to her and hugs her. Seeing them reminds me of my younger brother and sister and I feel a sting of pain in my chest. Why can the emperor children grow up safe while my brother and sister die? I feel the hate consuming me.

Should I kill them to make the emperor suffer? I wonder.

But looking at those two innocents' little beings I feel incapable of harming them.

I killed on the battlefield but I never took an innocent life.

I help the little prince and princess go back to their palace.

Instead of thanking me, the noble consort looks at me like I would harm them.

Looks like I can't make her my ally. But it's okay, I will find someone else.

That night, the emperor visits me. 

This author says: 

I wanted to write a chapter without them being together on it and I didn't know what else to write so the chapter is a bit short.